Basement Ceiling Leak – Part 14 – Commencing the New Shower Floor

In Part 13, Bennett and his son Alex had removed the last of the original shower stall’s poured concrete flooring, the black plastic leak barrier, and the floor had sufficiently dried over the weekend.

Today we were ready for the new shower stall floor installation to begin within the still new en suite shower that was installas as part of last year’s home renovation / makeover series of projects.

If you recall, here was the condition of the exposed shower floor, with the cement board affixed to the particle board wooden sub floor from the first. In the picture below the dehumidifier is shown trying to help dry the area.

So, Bennett proceeded to first install pieces of drywall at the lower area of the vertical walls (seen in the picture below) using humidity resistant drywall boards we had left over from last year. He felt it is better than having exposed wood 2 X 4′s for the poured concrete to rest up against.

Then he poured concrete back onto the exposed floor. However, two differences from the prior poured concrete floor.

First, rather than 5 inches of poured concrete, Bennett only used between 3/4 of an inch and 1.25 (approximately) inches. He felt there was no need for so much poured concrete.

Second, with the floor drain to be repositioned to the middle of the floor, rather than well over the the right by the built-in bench, he slopped the poured concrete floor towards the center of the floor.

The next day, Bennett returned to do a few things. The primary task was to cut the hole in the newly poured and dryed concrete floor for the floor drain.

For this he uses the same drill he had been using for various tasks but with a circular bit (see picture above). Notice that it does not have any ‘teeth’, indicating it is to be used for the concrete floor itself and not for the particle board sub-floor.

Yes, this will cause an awful lot of dust to be created both on the floor and in the air itself. If you do this, we recommend you use a mask so you don’t breathe in the dust.

Then, to continue making the new hole for the floor drain, he changed to a different circular bit, one that had ‘teeth’ to cut through the wood particle board sub-floor underneath. Notice the yellow circular drill bit in the picture below to see the difference.

Now, what you might not be able to tell is the size of the hole. It is larger than you might think. It is more than three times the size of the drain pipe. Below is a picture from the basement up to the area in the basement’s ceiling directly underneath the shower floor to illustrate the relative size of the new shower drain hole.

Next time we answer the question ‘Why is the hole for the new shower drain so large?’.

To continue with the next article in this series, simply select this link to Part 15.